2015Lane

2015 Event Photos

Homeward bound and the Lane Motor Museum

After such an exciting Saturday, people started their trips home at various times the next morning. Sunday traffic was light through downtown Atlanta when six of us left together with the intention of stopping in Nashville to see an unusual automotive collection.

It didn't take long to get to Chattanooga and head uphill to Monteagle again. Manuel and Dee Dee led in his 911. Dave Hostetter and Loren Urfer followed in the Audi. Jerry and Susan Jindrich were next in their 911. (Apparently, our pace wasn't quick enough. Criss and Macie Yelton passed us in their Honda Odyssey!)

But we weren't in a hurry. Our destination was the Lane Motor Museum, housed in a former Sunbeam Bread Bakery on the Murfreesboro Pike, just off Interstate 24. There are about 400 vehicles in the collection. Some are on display all the time. Others rotate through.

The museum specializes in European cars. Many will be familiar to you.

Some are not so common. You may recognize them but you are not likely to see them on U.S. roads. When was the last time you saw a Citroen 2CV putter along? This is the Sahara model with one engine in the front and a second in the rear to create 4 wheel drive for rough terrain.

Then there are the surprises: impossibly tiny cars like the Peel P50 and the Peel Trident from the Isle of Man.

There are marvels of ingenuity and imagination, such as this replica of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion. The original was shown to the world at the 1933-1934 World's Fair in Chicago.

The 1950 Martin Stationette was one of three prototypes built by inventor James V. Martin and the Martin Aircraft Company. This car was designed to serve as a compact suburban commuter vehicle. The museum also has the other two prototypes.

There are several propeller-driven machines. This French car is the Helicron, built in 1932.

There are a few cars from other parts of the world. Dave found this 1962 Chevrolet Corvair Wagon. It had a horizontally opposed, six cylinder, air cooled engine in the rear which produced 84 HP. Does that sound vaguely familiar? It also had a two speed automatic transmission.

Loren enjoyed the collection and photographed many of the interesting vehicles.

It is easy to imagine standing on a street corner in Paris, London, or Frankfurt back in the 1950's, watching the funny little cars go by. Here's a cheerful 1958 DKW.

Quirky would be a good word to describe the Lane Motor Museum. It really was fun to browse through the collection of rare and odd cars. You can read detailed information about most of their cars on the museum website. And, if you'd like a different kind of road trip, Nashville is near enough for you to drive down, see the cars, find some good Tennessee BBQ for lunch, and return home the same day.

It made for an interesting stop on our journey home, and capped a fantastic weekend.